Tuesday, July 20, 2010

41 years ago today, Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins, and Buzz Aldrin made history by landing humans on the moon for the first time. In commemoration, I present this survey of four films which imagine such an event from the perspective of their own times. All were made prior to the 1969 landing, and each presents a unique vision of space travel.

A Trip to the Moon (1902)

A Trip to the Moon is a short film made by French magician Georges Méliès, who pioneered the use of fades, dissolves, and simple visual effects in his approximately 500 films, many of which concerned fantastical subjects. A Trip to the Moon is such a film, and depicts a whimsical voyage made by turn-of-the-century astronomers inside a bullet-shaped space capsule which is shot out of a very long gun barrel into the eye of the literally depicted "man in the moon." Upon landing, the crew of astronomers encounters such oddities as a forest of giant mushrooms and primitive lunar natives before being captured and brought before the natives' leader. The travellers manage to escape after a climactic chase and succeed in tipping their capsule off the edge of a cliff so that it falls clear off the moon and back to Earth.

It would be unfair to compare A Trip to the Moon to real space travel as its intent is purely to entertain. (Even so, the method of return travel is an over-simplified version of that described in 1950's Destination Moon, which explains that once a rocket escapes the gravitational field of the moon, it is simply "falling" through space until it is caught by the gravitational field of Earth.) Along with its entertainment merit, though, is much historical value. Méliès is credited with steering film away from use as mere spectacle and toward the presentation of narrative. The earliest films were exhibitions of the technology itself — Edison's kissing couple, or the Lumières' unlucky gardener being sprayed by a hose. Méliès' work was the start of cinematic storytelling, which would explode into popular film in the following years of the twentieth century.1

Woman in the Moon (1929)

Woman in the Moon is a silent movie directed by Fritz Lang which depicts the first trip to the moon as being motivated not only by the spirit of scientific discovery and adventure, but by the quest for gold. The trip is the brainchild of Professor Manfeldt, an astronomer who posits the moon as a source of vast gold deposits. While he is initially derided and his claims dismissed, his plan is given new life years later by Wolf Helius, and aeronautics entrepreneur who is able to secure funding for the journey on one condition: that the organization known as the Finance Group be given control over all gold discovered on the moon. This provision is to be enforced by their representative Walter Turner, who, much to the dismay of the gold-crazy Manfeldt, is to accompany the crew (think a creepy version of Bud Cort's "bond company stooge" from The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, played by a 1920's German equivalent to Crispin Glover). Further complicating matters is that Helius is in love with another crew member, a woman named Friede, who is engaged to Helius' chief engineer, Hans Windegger. Manfeldt, Helius, Turner, Friede, and Windegger set off for the moon unaware that a young boy named Gustav has also stowed away on their rocket. From the start, this film is set up more for soap opera melodrama than scientific realism.

Still, the film addresses certain logistical elements of the voyage in some detail. The investors from the Finance Group review rocket diagrams, photographs from Helius' test launch, and a short film explaining rocket trajectory. There is a depiction of g-forces during the very high-speed launch, and weightlessness is demonstrated as Gustav floats through the cabin and Windegger coaxes wine from a bottle. The ship is equipped with airlocks, and Windegger angrily and sarcastically emphasizes their importance to Helius. Space suits are on-board and ready for use until Manfeldt discovers the moon has a breathable atmosphere.

Yet despite the excitement and novelty of space travel, this film focuses on the tension between the crew, which culminates in a gunfight which ruptures an oxygen tank, releasing oxygen needed for the return trip and therefore dooming one crew member to a solitary life on the moon so the others can return to earth. This drama could have been played out in any context, though it is a treat to see space travel presented by Lang, especially with some nice aerial photography and miniature sets during the construction and launch of the rocket.

Destination Moon (1950)

Destination Moon has been touted as one of the first science fiction movies to focus on the reality of space travel, not merely the fantasy inspired by it. Indeed, it contains much discussion and debate about the role of government vs. that of private industry in America's first trip to the moon (with responsibility for building the necessary rocket being placed on the private sector), about how to deal with unfavorable public opinion, and about the threat of sabotage. The primary motivation for landing on the moon is military supremacy — the first nation able to fire weapons from the moon will dominate the world. We can assume that the Soviet Union is America's primary competition in the film, though as in several other science fiction films of the time, this is never stated explicitly.

There is ample technical exposition, including a lesson in rocketry presented to a roomful of American industrialists by a Woody Woodpecker cartoon. This technique is borrowed decades later when an animated DNA strand explains the process of cloning to theme park visitors in Jurassic Park, and it is perhaps intended to communicate the more technical aspects of the plot to a younger audience more interested in fantasy adventure. It could also be taken as a joke about the inability of business people to understand scientific ideas. (An extra stereotype is provided in the form of a Texas entrepreneur who questions, in a Southern drawl, why he should cooperate in the venture at all, finally acquiescing with a joke about Texas being the only state large enough to contain the project.) Funding is secured, and construction soon begins on a tall, gleaming "classic" 1950's rocket ship.

The film depicts other realities of space travel in its own way, including g-forces (the crew are nearly crushed during the face-altering lift off), zero gravity (magnet boots solve this problem), the consequences of toying with Newton's First Law and a daring rescue exploiting his Third: when one of the crew makes the mistake of letting go of his tether during a spacewalk, another improvises a jet pack out of an oxygen tank in order to retrieve the drifting crew member. (A similar rescue attempt is shown years later in 2000's Mission to Mars, which depicts the first attempt to land humans on the Red Planet.)

Most striking is how Destination Moon presages actual difficulties faced by NASA's Apollo missions, still over a decade away from the film's release. As the rocket comes in for its landing, the pilot needs to adjust course and in doing so uses more than the allotted amount of fuel. Similarly, as Apollo 11's lunar module descended to the moon's surface, Neil Armstrong noticed that the pre-set course was leading the lander into a crater filled with boulders. Taking the controls, Armstrong guided the craft to a more suitable location, though he did so with the knowledge that each second of flight was using fuel. Had he used too much, the landing would have been aborted in order to conserve fuel for the return trip. Armstrong successfully landed the module — with only 20 seconds of fuel to spare.2

The crew in Destination Moon isn't as fortunate, however, for their delay in landing consumes so much fuel that they have too little to return to Earth. Their ground control devises a plan that requires the astronauts to lighten the ship by three thousand pounds. Communicating regularly with Earth, the astronauts are able to make the necessary modifications and return home safely. This is an eerie forerunner to NASA's ill-fated Apollo 13 mission, which suffered its own disastrous mishaps and which required the resources of the crew and the NASA command center to be salvaged.3

Not all parallels between the film and the real moon landing are as foreboding. When the first two astronauts in the movie set foot on the moon, one declares, "For the grace of God, and the name of the United States of America, I take possession of this planet on behalf of and for the benefit of all mankind." The plaque left on the moon by the Apollo 11 crew reads, "Here men from the planet Earth first set foot upon the moon. July 1969, A.D. We came in peace for all mankind." The plaque bears the names of the three astronauts as well as the name of "Richard Nixon, President, United States of America."4 Also, after the astronauts in the film claim the moon, they receive a radio call from a reporter on Earth. Similarly, after Armstrong and Aldrin erected the US flag on the surface of the moon, they received a call from President Nixon, who expressed his pride in the mission.5

True to its reputation, in Destination Moon each of the hardships experienced by the astronauts provides means to explore a technical challenge in a "realistic" way. In Woman in the Moon, the stranding, for example, is merely a set-up for dramatic conflict and the resolution of the Helius-Friede-Windegger love triangle. In Destination Moon, it is the catalyst for technical innovation and the demonstration of how potential problems might be handled on a real space mission.

First Men in the Moon (1964)

First Men in the Moon is based on a story by H.G. Wells, with visual effects by revered stop-motion animator Ray Harryhausen. The film opens with dramatic titles and a fairly realistic depiction of a present-day (1960's era) moon landing, as a landing craft separates from an orbiting command module and begins what is believed to be the first-ever descent to the lunar surface. Interestingly for a film made in the midst of the space race, the crew is an international assembly sent not by the USA, but by the UN. The astronauts are soon shocked to discover that a British flag and a claim dated 1899 have been left on the moon by an unknown visitor. Authorities on earth soon find the only survivor of that original mission, who tells his story in a flashback to Victorian England where the tone shifts so jarringly to that of a 1960's Disney film that I expected Dick van Dyke and his infamous Cockney accent to make an appearance.

In a way, this film is like a longer telling of A Trip to the Moon. There is some exposition about a new chemical compound called Cavorite, which can be painted onto objects to prevent gravity from working on them. Driven by scientific curiosity and (once again) the belief that the moon is rich in minerals like gold, the travellers apply Cavorite to a bathysphere-like vessel, free the sphere from Earth's pull, and guide it to the moon. There they encounter very rough, mountainous terrain (similar to that depicted in the other movies mentioned here), and a fantastical race of insect-like creatures (which are quickly dubbed "Selenites") who attempt to hold them captive. A chase and escape follow.

During their voyage, the makeshift astronauts encounter zero gravity, need to cope with the difference in air pressure between the lunar surface and their space capsule, and don homemade spacesuits, fashioned from pre-SCUBA diving suits. (Once they descend into the underground tunnels of the Selenites, though, they are able to shed these suits and breathe an artificially generated atmosphere.) These concessions to science are minor, however (their spacesuits are supposedly airtight, yet their hands are bare), and very much like A Trip to the Moon, this film focuses on the fantasy of space travel, other worlds, and bizarre creatures. It is also worth noting that in First Men in the Moon, as in all of the films mentioned here, more technical emphasis is given to the propulsion and operation of the spacecraft than to life support systems and the day-to-day living necessities of the astronauts, as if the latter is the least problematic aspect of each voyage.

Saturday, July 10, 2010

After catching references to Mission: Impossible and Return of the Jedi in Toy Story 3, I started thinking of favorite such moments from other films. Here's a collection of shots, scenes, or moments from movies that were — or appear to have been — inspired by others. Suggest any you know of or think about in a comment.

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

The Wizard of Oz

In order to get to Mordor — where they can destroy the One Ring and end their long journey — Frodo, Sam, and Gollum make a difficult climb up a rocky cliff, much in the same way Lion, Tin Man, and Scarecrow do on their way to rescue Dorothy from the Wicked Witch's castle.

At the top of the cliff, the characters look down on well-guarded gates.

A pair of Easterlings breaks off to investigate noises made by Sam and Frodo, who luckily go unnoticed. A trio of Winkies find Scarecrow, Lion, and Tin Man after Toto barks.

Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace

Forbidden Planet

This shot of the Neimoidians watching Qui-Gon's lightsaber cut through the bridge door is strikingly similar to one of the Id Monster melting its way through a similar door.

Both doors have multiple panels which slide together.

Jurassic Park

Citizen Kane

The backlighting used in this scene from Jurassic Park — where Mr. Arnold reboots the computer system — recalls the screening room scene from Citizen Kane.

Henry V (Branagh)

The Godfather

The opening shot of the traitors scene in Branagh's Henry V has always made me think of the opening shot of Luca Brasi's death scene in The Godfather. Both show soon-to-be-deceased characters through a panel (Luca Brasi being shown through a glass window etched with goldfish, foreshadowing his fate of "sleeping with the fishes") who enter with thoughts of deception, only to realize they have been found out — albeit too late to avoid the fatal consequences.

Iron Man 2

Silent Running

The final battle in Iron Man 2 appears to pay homage to Silent Running when Iron Man battles robotic machines called "drones" inside a geodesic "bio-dome." Silent Running is about a man caring for the last of Earth's forests, which have been placed in geodesic domes and sent into space for protection. Assisting the caretaker are three robots called "drones."

Iron Man 2

Predator

As the villain Whiplash lies dying at Iron Man's feet, he tells Iron Man "You lose." A light on his armor begins flashing and Iron Man quickly realizes that Whiplash has triggered a bomb, so he immediately flies to a safe distance to avoid the explosion. As the Predator lies dying at Dutch's feet, he asks Dutch "What the hell are you?" then activates a control on his wrist. Dutch realizes that the alien has triggered a bomb, so he begins to run to a safe distance to avoid the explosion.

Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow

The Mechanical Monsters (Fleischer Superman cartoon)

There are many examples from Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (the film is a pastiche of classic sci-fi and adventure elements), but this one is my favorite.

Star Wars

The Searchers

After finding the Jawa sandcrawler burning in the dessert, Luke races home only to find that Imperial troops have killed his aunt and uncle and set the farm on fire. Similarly, Martin runs home after learning of the Comanche attack, only to arrive after Scar has killed his aunt and uncle and set the ranch on fire. (But while a sequel would tell us that Darth Vader is Luke's father, we're left to guess at Martin's paternity.)

Aliens

Them

Newt, the sole survivor of an attack by alien creatures, mirrors the little girl from the beginning of Them!, herself the only survivor of an attack by giant ants.

Ripley burns the alien nest with a flame thrower, just as the soldiers destroy the egg chamber of the giant ants.

Raiders of the Lost Ark

Citizen Kane

This one was pointed out to me by one of my college professors during a unit on Citizen Kane. The most important objects from each film are in the end relegated to seemingly endless warehouses — each shown in high-angle tracking shots — full of similar items.

Star Wars Episode 2: Attack of the Clones

The Searchers

Anakin's nighttime rescue of his mother from the Tusken Raider camp appears to have been inspired by Martin's pre-dawn rescue of Debbie in The Searchers.

The Untouchables

The Battleship Potemkin

I hadn't yet seen The Battleship Potemkin when I saw The Untouchables in its original release, though the scene on the train station steps — modelled after the Odessa steps sequence from Potemkin — was still a highlight.

Henry V (Olivier)

Alexander Nevsky

Eisenstein's battle on the ice was a blueprint for Olivier's staging of the battle of Agincourt. (For more examples, see A Chorus' Lines)

The Lost World: Jurassic Park

Raiders of the Lost Ark

This scene from The Lost World — where Drs. Harding and Malcolm question Ludlow on the whereabouts of the baby t-rex — reminds me of the scene at the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark where Indiana Jones and Brody attempt to learn the location of the Ark of the Covenant from the government agents. When Jones is told that the ark is being worked on by "top men," he pushes further, asking "Who?", only to be answered with a more emphatic "Top men." Similarly, when Malcolm is told that the t-rex is in a "secured facility," he asks "Where's the facility?"

The Abyss

Gojira (Godzilla)

After Bud disarms the nuclear warhead and realizes that he doesn't have enough oxygen to return to the surface, he messages back to his estranged wife, "Don't cry baby. Knew this was one way ticket but you know I had to come. Love you Wife." Serizawa, after successfully detonating the oxygen destroyer, effectively killing Gojira, radios his fiancée and the man she appears to truly love, saying "Both of you, be happy. Good-bye. Farewell!" He then cuts his oxygen tube and perishes in the deep.